


present time

by cirrus (themorninglark)



Series: tripping over time [1]
Category: Free!
Genre: Friendship, Gen, OT5, haru's birthday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-30
Updated: 2015-06-30
Packaged: 2018-04-06 21:39:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4237575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themorninglark/pseuds/cirrus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What Haruka's friends give him for his birthdays, through the years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	present time

**Author's Note:**

> A series of 100 word drabbles for Haru's birthday. Happy birthday, dear water child ♥

On his fifth birthday, Haruka receives a seashell.

It is the colour of sand, white as the clouds, brown as dust. It curves smoothly round on itself, tapering at the bottom. It is big in Makoto's little hands as he lays it in Haruka's palm with quiet reverence.

The shell is cool to the touch, the whorls rippling on his fingertips, like ocean waves.

Makoto smiles. He clasps Haruka's hand, tiptoes, and leans in close, like he's telling him a secret.

"If you put it close to your ear, you can hear the sea, Haru-chan," he whispers.

And Haruka listens.

 

* * *

 

On his thirteenth birthday, Haruka receives a surprise.

"Come!" says Nagisa, insistently. It is evening. The shadows are long, spilling out into the warm summer glow of Iwatobi SC's backyard.

 _Come_ , says the oak tree, wind rustling through its leaves.

Haruka hitches his bag on his shoulder, and follows Nagisa.

" _Look_! Look, it bloomed!"

There, in a corner of the garden, is a breathtaking burst of deep blue on a small bush; _hydrangeas_ , Haruka murmurs, as Nagisa lets go of his wrist and runs over.

Nagisa plucks a flower, carefully, tenderly.

He reaches up, and tucks it behind Haruka's ear.

 

* * *

 

On his seventeenth birthday, Haruka receives a mackerel.

They are standing in Haruka's kitchen, and Haruka is wearing his blue apron, ladle in hand and soup on the stove, half-forgotten as he stares at what Rei is holding out to him.

Rei frowns, and flushes.

"It's not very _beautiful_ , but it _is_ nutritious, full of Omega-3 acids, and my mother bought it fresh from the fishermen this morning, and I thought…"

Haruka doesn't know what Rei is talking about. The plump, silvery fish he glimpses through the translucent plastic bag is one of the most beautiful sights he's ever seen.

 

* * *

 

On his twenty-first birthday, Haruka receives a full eight hours' worth of uninterrupted sleep.

When he opens his eyes, he sees Rin, folding clothes.

"Hey," says Rin. "You woke up. Rest well?"

Haruka yawns, mumbles.

Rin stacks his T-shirts up with a satisfied nod. He sits down on the edge of his creaky hotel bed, raising an eyebrow at Haruka.

"The other guys wanted to go out drinking to celebrate your birthday. I told them, _honestly_? You'd rather sleep. Two races in the morning, that's no joke."

Haruka doesn't remember falling asleep. But now, he wakes, feeling twenty-one, and ready.

 

* * *

 

On a birthday sometime down the road, when the years have passed, more than he cares to count - when all is quiet, when the days are long -

Haruka receives nothing more than he already has.

He is on a train, near the end of a very long journey. It hums and rumbles on the tracks as the countryside rolls by. Tall, silver skyscrapers give way to fields, fields of wheat-gold and green, swaying in the wind.

Then he sees it - _there_ , so close -

Sea blue, sparkling on the horizon.

And at the station, his friends, waiting for him.

 

_"I'm home."_

 


End file.
